Natasha, who was getting a little worked up when Kuti cornered her, seemed to have regained her composure .

  Kuti’s expression of cold anger, which she rarely shows, was very encouraging .

  But if this expression was turned on me, I would be more sad than scared .

  “Quickly! Apologize to Lily!”


  “I, I am sorry……”


  “I didn’t hear you!”


  “I’m sorry! I will do anything so please forgive me!”


  “You heard her, Lily . What will it be?”


  N? What was that about……

  Anyhow, Natasha seemed to be apologizing to me as Kuti’s younger sister, not as the perfect Queen .

  I mean, she was teary-eyed and she looked very immature .

  She is apparently over two thousand years old . She has the same face as Kuti, so she looked super cute .

  “Err, it’s okay, Kuti . I have you, after all . You will protect me, right?”


  “Of course! Do you understand, Natasha!”


  “Uu…… yes……”


  “Nownow, let’s wipe off the tears since you understand . I’m not scary~ it’s your Oneechan~ I’m very kind~”


  “Kuti is acting as a big sister……”


  Realizing that I was feeling okay, Kuti started taking care of Natasha .

  Kuti, who was comforting Natasha who somehow regressed to a little child, looked like a proper big sister .

  This is another sight that I have never seen before .

  This sight alone was so fascinating that it made me glad to be in the Forest next to the world .

  Kuti Oneechan…… how nice!

  “Natasha has a lot of piled up stress in her, too . With that serious nature of hers, she must find it difficult to let it out . Sorry about that, Lily . ”


  “No, it’s fine . I mean, she’s Kuti’s little sister . She’s like a little sister to me, too . ”


  “.…… I wonder about that?”


  Kuti soothed Natasha in a hurry .

  Feeling completely like an outsider, Sani Sensei decided to watch over the two warmly from distance .

  ◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

  Some time passed and it was time for lunch, so Scarlet and Mira came over to deliver lunch or something .

  The dish they made was made with ingredients brought from Auriol, but thanks to Scarlet’s leadership, it was made with a deeper flavor than the usual light flavor .

  However, it was still thin in flavor, due to the fact that there were fewer kinds of seasonings compared to the meals in our past lives .

  Well, I’ve been eating like this for six years now, so I don’t think I’d be able to eat it if I were to suddenly go back to the seasonings I had back then .

  Especially nowadays, my taste buds are very sensitive and I would be surprised if I was served deeper flavors .

  Maybe that’s why Scarlet’s seasoning didn’t surprise my stomach, and I was able to accept it easily .

  It’s scary to get used to it . Lighter flavors are the norm nowadays, so deeper flavors feel fresh .

  But it was very good, and I’d like to ask Scarlet to promote this method of cooking when I return back .

  I can’t enter the kitchen just yet, after all .

  “Ahem, I’m sorry about the umm, showing you something so unsightly . ”


  “No, I don’t mind it, please don’t worry about it . ”


  “I am glad to hear that . ”


  The time we spent at lunch allowed Natasha to get back to normal, so we resumed our discussion .

  I’m not sure if it’s good that I saw her embarrassed or not, but I feel like I got much closer to Natasha .

  It seems that it was the same for her, and the atmosphere was much softer than it was at first .

  After all, as Sani Sensei said, she was probably suffering from a lot of heartaches due to her duties as the queen .

  And so, if her biggest heartache is going to be resolved, her tension would surely rise in a rush .

  Well, I think you have to keep your cool in such situations, but no one can do it perfectly .

  Especially, since there were only the people she was close with in the room, except me of course .

  I guess she just couldn’t hold it back anymore .

  “I have plans after this, but I will explain it again later today . I think I would like you to personally observe the state of the darkness tomorrow . ”


  “State of the darkness?”


  “Yes . The invasion of the darkness is very slow . There is no danger of it attacking this side, so there’s no issue with safety . We will be using a vehicle that can travel at high speeds just in case, you can rest assured . ”


  State of the darkness……

  It’s true that I’ve only heard the stories and seen the 3D images, so I don’t think I have enough of a sense of urgency .

  In fact, it feels completely like another person’s problem when they say the world is in the crisis of destruction .

  Besides, what I am asked to do is not to do something about the darkness, but to establish a way to safely cross the dimensions .

  Frankly, it’s impossible to repair a planet that is about to collapse, as was shown in the 3D projection .

  That’s why I don’t see the point in seeing the state of the darkness directly with my own eyes—through my Contact Lenses, that is .